


Breathing Space

by EmperorSnarkon (launchmeintospace)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cute, First Kiss, I Tried, Liberal use of Italics, M/M, One Shot, Romance, hopefully, i dont know what this is, its pretty romantic??, or at least it should be, some My Chemical Romance lyrics included
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 04:31:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11305731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/launchmeintospace/pseuds/EmperorSnarkon
Summary: Keith finds out the 'r' in 'stargazing' is for 'romance.'





	Breathing Space

Blue eyes peered up into the sky, soft and sleepy. Exhaustion was marked in the heaviness of their lids and the bags below them, but there was no way that the person to whom the eyes belonged to was going to fall asleep before his companion. He simply refused to. Sheer force of will kept his bleary gaze focused on the sight of an unfamiliar galaxy dusting the night sky on an unfamiliar planet.

His stubbornness amused the other person sprawled by him, who smiled at the idiot in a way that could only be described as fondly, which was more emotion than he was willing to hand out yet seemed unable to stop giving. Thankfully, the night hid the helpless curl of his lips, because he was sure that if anyone saw, especially the boy stretched out next to him, he would never live it down. No one would have to bring it up- he'd just look at them and know that they _knew_ and that filled him with something like mortification, the kind that makes you want to crawl out of your own skin and just... disappear. Evaporate into thin air.

But it was okay there, he tried to reassure himself, because it was dark and they were outside, alone, and the catalyst to his pounding heart was exhausted, which made him even more oblivious. So he allowed himself the fondness and the smile and the eye strain of trying to make out details of a certain Blue Paladin of Voltron's face by starlight, regardless of the dryness of his own tired eyes.

"Keith..." Lance started in that voice that only exists in the darkest hours of the night, pleasant in its slight roughness. "What do you miss about Earth?"

The Blue Paladin turned his gaze away from the stars to focus on Keith, who hoped he thought nothing of the fact that the Red Paladin was already looking at him. Hopefully he couldn't see the slight flush warming his nose and ears and coloring his cheeks. Hopefully he didn't notice the way Keith's breathing grew nervous and shallow. Hopefully he didn't notice that he was now sharing breathing space with the Red Paladin and pull away.

"'Cause I personally miss everything, you know? The food, the music, the clothes, the people,... the _memes_..." Lance spoke into the empty pause Keith left, tone nostalgic and vulnerable. "I know what we're doing with Voltron is important, but, man, I just wish we could go back for a bit, ya know? Even if it's just to let my ma pull my ears and ground me for the next ten thousand years. I bet she's so _mad_ at me right now... Did you fall asleep?"

Keith replied with a breathy, "no." He cleared his throat quietly. "Still conscious."

"Oh, good. Don't you dare fall asleep here; I'm not carrying you back inside." White flashed in the dark and Keith knew Lance had thrown him a grin. "What do you miss on Earth?"

Breathing out in a drawn out sigh, Keith moved his eyes to the sky for the first time in a while. A long while. A while drawn out enough for a crick to develop in his neck. Subconsciously, his fingers found grass to tug gently at, allowing his hands a repetitive motion to ground him -sliding his fingertips from the base of the fuzzy plant to the top- as he thought hard. The stars freckling the sky in unfamiliar constellations helped blank out his mind, which was counterproductive really.

Unlike Lance, who had family and friends and a home to go back to on Earth, Keith had no one. No family to miss him terribly or friends to question where he had gone. He had nothing except a lonely shack in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico. The shack had nothing he was extremely attached to, not even fond memories. Unless you counted waking up countless times on a dusty couch with his eyes basically glued shut by that nasty eye mucus colored faintly orange with desert silt, sunburns bad enough to leave him immobile, and constant thirst as fond memories. The way Keith saw it, he could go the rest of his life without stepping foot on Earth ever again and his chest didn't twist with the thought.

Lance, however, wasn't as callous. His chest did twist and it hurt him. It hurt him a lot. Enough to bring a glossy sheen to his already bright eyes and a frown that looked unnatural and was unwelcomed on his face. Lance's mouth was -in Keith's completely correct opinion- perfect for smiling and Keith detested anything and everything that made his smile fall.

Breaking the silence, Keith answered honestly. "I don't really... miss anything. Not really."

"Awe, that can't be true. Nothing? Really? Not even a little bit?"

Keith shook his head and heard Lance sigh.

"Not even... the idea..." Lance snickered softly. "You know the one... _When I was... a young boy_..."

Surprised, Keith let out a snort of amusement that was much too loud for the time. His hands abandoned his strokes on the grass in favor of face-palming himself, hiding the wide grin on his face.

" _My father... took me into the city... to_ -" Lance continued to sing softly but cut off when Keith punched his shoulder half-heartedly to laugh. "I know you know it, Keith! C'mon," He turned on his side to face the pilot of the Red Lion. "You can't be that emo and not love My Chemical Romance."

Even if Lance couldn't see it, Keith felt satisfaction in rolling his eyes. "Look... shut up." He leaned up on his elbows, slightly overwhelmed that the Blue Paladin was facing him, looking at him, singing for him, curling his body slightly towards him.

"You aren't denying it." The Blue Lion's pilot pointed out in a sing-song voice. "Is your emo music what you miss the most?"

With a long-suffering sigh, Keith rested his cheek against his right shoulder, facing Lance. "Yeah, okay, I'm a cliché emo edgelord who wears fingerless gloves and listens to My Chemical Romance and I don't go out in public without wearing black. But, no, that idea is not what I miss the most about Earth."

His sleepy space ranger partner huffed out a laugh through his nose but otherwise waited for Keith to elaborate.

"I guess..." Keith started hesitantly. "What I miss the most... about Earth..." Pursing his lips, he turned to his side and matched Lance's pose, tucking his arm under his head and peering into the shadows hiding the brightest blue eyes he knew. The last part of his statement he uttered in a whispered rush. "What I miss the most about Earth is how happy it makes you to be there."

Lance stared. Keith could see his eyes glittering in the dark. As the silence stretched on, Keith wished he could viciously eat his own words. Mortification made blood rush under the skin of his cheeks, ears, and neck, coloring him a lobster red barely obscured by the night. Perhaps it was time for him to ditch Lance and stumble back to the Castle of Lions. Maybe he could steal an escape pod before anyone noticed and "accidentally" launch himself into the fucking void.

His body was tensed to go when Lance moved one hand from under his cheek to grab one of Keith's, gently easing it out from beneath his red face. Keith's fingers twitched. He stared back at Lance, his eyes wide and uncomprehending.

"Thank you," Lance breathed out, holding Keith's hand tightly against his chest. Keith's knuckles could feel the fast pounding beneath the other boy's ribcage and, not for the first time but certainly the first plausible one, he considered that maybe Lance felt the same butterflies and the same warmth to his skin with Keith as Keith did with Lance. "That's really sweet."

"It's not... it's not sweet. It's just-" He glanced away, facing the Castle of Lions. The sleek structure of the castle-ship seemed to glow compared to the dark silhouettes of the planet's geography and ecosystem. "-less bitter than usual." Despite the fact that he was on an alien planet light years away from Earth, looking at the alien castle ship he lived in as he protected the universe as a Paladin of Voltron, and knowing that part of his DNA was the DNA of an invasive alien species, this moment with Lance felt like the most surreal thing he had ever experienced. He was starting to feel oddly detached from himself, as if he were living in someone else's skin as they lived and thought and felt. He was present but not in control.

And of course, because he was a weak man, his eyes went back to Lance in time to see his latest grin. "It's sweet, face it."

Keith took in a shuddering breath, smelling the odd grass, flowers, Lance, moist dirt, trees, Lance, and more Lance. He smelled a little of the castle's basic soap and a little like sweat and of something that was probably his beauty products. Almost, but not quite, cinnamon and vanilla. Keith, on the other hand, probably smelled of salt and anxiety. His heartbeat stuttered as Lance intertwined their fingers. Keith's palms were sweating and he hoped Lance didn't notice -and if he did, he hoped he'd keep his mouth shut. Unexpectedly, Lance's hands weren't as soft as Keith had imaged and that was infinitely better; it helped ground him, helped him convince himself he wasn't having a particularly vivid dream. This was real, Lance was real, and he was really holding Keith's hand. Instinctively, his fingers tightened around Lance's slender ones.

Lance tipped his head closer. "Since you're so insistent on being sweet, why don't you give me some sugar?" He tapped one long finger against his bottom lip, his mouth curled into a tiny smile.  
  
Warmth exploded in Keith's chest when he heard the shy edge to the otherwise cocky words. But, because he was an idiot, he croaked out, "are you flirting with me?"

"Have been for the past four months, thanks for noticing."

"Oh." Keith squeezed Lance's hand and he was certain Lance could hear the fast beating of his heart. "Uh. I've never- I don't know how-" His voice cracked several times as his throat tried to collapse in on itself. There was literal static flashing in his mind's eye and he was quickly losing the ability to speak. He was debating whether or not he was pathetic for being reduced to blushes and stutters by the resident flirt and goof. A flirt and goof that had apparently actually taken in interest in him, resident emo hot-head.

"That's okay." Lance held his hand even tighter. "I know you're no sharpshooter but give it your best shot."

"You're so lame." Keith groaned then huffed a laugh.

He was rewarded with a grin that practically glowed in the dark. "You like it, though, so I don't see who you're tryin' to insult."

The Red Paladin's mouth twisted in mock annoyance as he moved his free hand to smooth over Lance's soft hair. Small twigs and pieces of dry grass that had gotten stuck in there from Lance's twisting and turning were pushed off by his shaky fingers. "Maybe I do, but you have no proof."

A pleased sigh from the Blue Paladin ghosted over Keith's dry lips. Suddenly hyperaware of his own mouth, Lance's mouth, and the space (or lack thereof) between them, Keith pursed his lips nervously.

"If I let you win this debate, will you finally kiss me?"

Keith scoffed, grabbing a fistful of hair at the back of Lance's head to draw their faces closer together. Their noses bumped. The brave and impulsive Red Paladin had to pause to take a breath and gather his wits before he dared shift any closer. During that pause, the hand Lance wasn't using to squeeze the life out of Keith's fingers found its way to the back of Keith's neck.

When they kissed, Keith didn't see fireworks or feel electricity follow the path of his veins and arteries. He only saw the black behind his eyelids and his senses narrowed down to the new warmth on his lips and the softness of Lance's as they tentatively moved with each other. Keith had no fucking clue what he was doing, and the other boy seemed uncertain too. It was nothing like the movies and books made a first kiss seem, but that was okay; Keith was once again reassured that the moment was real, that he wasn't going to wake up all alone in his bed. To him, the kiss was magical not because of currents of voltage under his skin but for the goosebumps over it, because of how _real_  it was.

The Red Paladin made a soft, pleased sound at the back of his throat. Lance's responding smile was too wide to continue kissing. They allowed a minute amount of space between their faces, both radiating heat and unable to press down smiles. Keith smoothed his palm against the back of Lance's head, staring into Lance's eyes just as if he were in a cheesy romance story. Maybe if he were his hands would shake less.

"Does this make us space boyfriends?" Lance whispered.

Again, his quiet uncertainty played with Keith's heartstrings and everything seemed to get softer. His voice, his skin, his sharp chin. The fingers twining the hair at the back of his neck were hesitant and careful.

One of the biggest things that held Keith back was fear. Not many would believe him if he told them, probably, because he knew he came off as rash and impulsive and thoughtless. And that was all true too, not some forced front to hide his true feelings or anything, but there were some things that scared the Red Paladin into overthinking and hesitating and freezing up. For the longest while, one of those was Lance. He was scared that if he glanced at him too fondly or (in the previously unlikely possibility) that if he admitted his romantic feelings toward the Blue Paladin, he would have... he would have... He didn't even know. Couldn't even have guessed. Lance was a wildcard like that. One of the reasons Keith had been terrified of him.

But now? Now Keith knew for a fact that Lance liked him too. His fears were being swept off and incinerated. 

"Yes." Keith whispered back, smiling.

Lance gifted him with another radiant grin. "Sweet."

They kissed again and again, rivaling the number of stars in the sky. 

**Author's Note:**

> heeeyyy haha ya this is me procrastinating on my other fic... and i procrastinated on this too. took me months. high school killed my imagination and will to live yeet. 
> 
> im not a romantic?? so if this is romantic please tell me that im doin' it right. 
> 
> Come shout with me on my tumblr!! its @emperorsnarkon ((:: i mostly reblog but if you wanna hmu thats totally cool yo. if you use twitter more im on there too ((((:::::::
> 
> Edit 9-18-17: I forgot to mention the beginning SUCKS ASS because I started it with the intention of havin this be lance's POV but I was (am) too in love with him for that.


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